There have been many attempts to provide head coverings that also serve to carry hair pieces such as wiglets. Some prior art embodiments have provided a convenient hair covering for people with hair loss, including women under chemotherapy treatment. Others have been additionally, or solely, for ornamental purposes to provide a quick method of showing stylish tresses that would have been expensive or time consuming to obtain, or otherwise not possible with the woman's natural hair. Even those who possess full, attractively coifed wigs, it is often desirable instead to use a head scarf carrying tresses or wiglets to avoid the time necessary to properly put on and adjust a full wig, for example when a woman wants to quickly run to a store from home. Moreover, full wigs are often hot and sweaty or otherwise uncomfortable to wear, so an alternative is desirable to provide relief from such discomfit.
Examples of prior efforts to provide such hair-adorned scarves or babushkas include U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,558 titled “Ornamental Hair Covering,” U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,546 titled “Scarf Hairpiece,” U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,292 titled “Hair Coverings with Interchangeable Components,” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,242 titled “Head Scarf for Women with Hair Loss.” Other prior art that is more remote includes caps or hats or the like with dependent tresses, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,651,310 titled “Hair Conforming Mounting for Adjustably Positionable Hair Pieces,” U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,557 titled “Boudoir Cap,” U.S. Pat. No. 3,636,962 titled “Woman's Hat with Depending Hair Tresses,” U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,396 titled “Detachable and Interchangeable Combination Wig and Hat,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,749 titled “Cap for Women to Conceal Hair Loss,” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,003 titled “Combined Head-Covering and Wiglet.” Each of the foregoing prior art patents are incorporate herein by reference.
There are significant problems with each of the foregoing references. Some use detachable hair pieces or permanent attachment by tape or by bulky connection, each lying directly on the skin, or which requires a hair piece secured to the undersurface of the scarf and/or a distance from the forward edge of the scarf (as compared to the sides, which are not as important to comfort or looks). Hair pieces are used to provide bangs or tresses depending as a fringe of hair combed or brushed forward over the forehead as a fringe over the woman's forehead. By having the hair piece spaced inwardly from the front edge, there is a constant possibility of the material of the scarf lifting in a gust of wind to expose the attachment. Detachable hair pieces require the use of connectors, tape securements, and stitching of the hair piece to the undersurface of the scarf, add weight and bulk and can suffer wear from repeated washings that deteriorate the securement of the attachment mechanism. Moreover, the prior art scarf materials are generally of one ply construction, contributing to the foregoing disadvantages.